Fall of Empires by Simon Jones

About Fall of Empires:

“He did not doubt that his death would plunge the empire into crisis, as dark and chaotic as the waters that waited to receive him.”

For centuries Rome and Persia have fought each other. This will be the last great war between them. The Roman Empire stands on the brink of annihilation. Its lands are overrun, its armies shattered. Only a truly remarkable emperor will be able to turn disaster into victory.
Fall of Empires is an epic tale of love, loss, hope and revenge. From the baying crowds of the hippodrome, across the bloody battlefields of the Persian frontier, to the secluded harem of the king of Persia, the action sweeps through an ancient world locked in its last titanic conflict.
At the heart of the story, two young lovers, Anna and Theophanes, are torn apart by the tides of war. Whilst Theophanes finds himself at the centre of events in the struggle between the emperor Heraclius and the cunning Persian general Shahrbaraz, treachery results in Anna being condemned to the life of a concubine in a far-off land. Can they ever be reunited?
Fall of Empires is a fast-paced historical fiction tale which takes place against the backdrop of the last war between Byzantium and Persia. It follows the fortunes of its two young protagonists as their home city of Antioch falls to the forces of the King of Persia commanded by the charismatic general Shahrbaraz. Along with the emperor Heraclius, Shahrbaraz is one of the key historical figures in the story, which is a blend of fact and fiction. The war itself was an epic affair and provides many great set pieces for the action in Fall of Empires. Fall of Empires is the first instalment in a planned trilogy set during a critical era of war, conquest and change in world history, which is rarely explored by historical fiction.

Author Bio:
Simon Jones lives in Cambridgeshire with his wife Adele. A graduate of Cardiff University, he spent ten years working for the Forensic Science Service. He is an author of historical fact and fiction. His first book The Battles are the Best Bits was published in 2012.
Simon’s second book Fall of Empires is a historical novel set during the Byzantine-Persian wars of the Seventh Century; an exciting and pivotal period in human history, relatively unexplored by historical fiction. Fall of Empires received over 280,000 reads on the free book sharing site Wattpad and was twice selected as a featured book on the site before being withdrawn for publication in August 2015. It will soon be published by Quest Publications.
Describing himself as a lover of all things historical, Simon delights in exploring, learning and sharing stories from across the broad canvas of history. He writes a regular blog Slings and Arrows, on which he covers a wide variety of historical topics from the ancient world to the space age.